The present invention relates generally to fuel dispensers and, more particularly, to fuel dispensers and systems capable of communicating with various types of transponders and detecting their movement within and throughout a fueling environment.
In recent years, traditional gasoline pumps and service stations have evolved into elaborate point-of-sale (POS) devices having sophisticated control electronics and user interfaces with large displays and touch-pads or screens. The dispensers include various types of payment means, such as card readers and cash acceptors, to expedite and further enhance fueling transactions. A customer is not limited to the purchase of fuel at the dispenser. More recent dispensers allow the customer to purchase services, such as car washes, and goods, such as fast food or convenience store products at the dispenser. Once purchased, the customer need only pick up the goods and services at the station store or the outlet of a vending machine.
Remote transaction systems have evolved wherein the fuel dispenser is adapted to communicate with various types of remote communication devices, such as transponders, to provide various types of identification and information to the fuel dispenser automatically. Given the sophistication of these transaction systems and the numerous choices provided to the customer at the dispenser, conducting transactions with transponders will be useful to allow the dispenser and fuel station store to monitor the movement of a person carrying a transponder and a vehicle having a transponder, enhance transaction and marketing efficiencies, and improve safety in the fueling environment.
The present invention relates to monitoring a customer position throughout a fueling environment in order to associate orders placed at the fuel dispenser with a particular customer at an appropriate receiving point. The receiving point may be a quick-serve restaurant drive-thru terminal, a car wash terminal, or any other point adapted to receive products or services ordered at the fuel dispenser. In addition to associating the appropriate customer with the order being picked up, operators of a quick-serve restaurant (QSR) can monitor or detect the position of the customer in the drive-thru lane or elsewhere in the fueling environment to determine when to start order preparation. For example, during the fueling operation, the customer may decide to order a few items from a QSR menu at the dispenser. As the customer enters the order, the order is associated with the transponder carried by the customer or mounted on the customer""s vehicle.
The customer may choose to pay for the order along with the fuel at the dispenser, at the order pick-up position, or at one of the in-store registers associated with the QSR or the convenience store. Assuming that the transaction was paid for at the dispenser along with the fuel, the customer will enter the vehicle and proceed to drive around the fuel station store along a drive-thru lane and pass a customer position monitor. As the customer approaches the customer position monitor, a drive-thru position interrogator will receive a signal from the transponder indicating the customer is at a known position in the drive-thru lane. At this point, a control system will alert the food preparation area to prepare the order and indicate to an order pick-up interface and controller the position of the customer in the drive-thru lane. Once the customer reaches the order pick-up window, the order pick-up interrogator will determine the presence of the customer transponder and associate the customer""s order accordingly so that the drive-thru window operator can deliver the freshly prepared order to the correct customer.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention is to provide a multistage ordering system for a fueling environment. The system may include a fuel dispenser having an order entry interface and associated first remote communications electronics adapted to communicate with a remote communications unit associated with the customer. An order receipt position apart from the fuel dispenser is provided and includes a second remote communications electronics adapted to communicate with a remote communications unit, a receipt position output indicating the customer who placed the order is at the order receipt location, and an intermediate location output indicating the customer is proximate said intermediate locating position. An intermediate locating position located along the path of travel between the fuel dispenser and the order receipt position is also provided. The intermediate locating position has a third remote communication electronics adapted to communicate with the remote communications unit. The control system is associated with each of the communications electronics.
The control system is preferably adapted to communicate with the remote communications unit through the first communications electronics when the remote communications unit is proximate a fuel dispenser, associated customer order placed at the order entry interface, and communicate with the remote communications unit through the third remote communications electronics when the remote communications unit is proximate the intermediate locating position. When the customer is proximate the intermediate locating position, the control system provides an intermediate location output in order to determine the location of the customer between the dispenser and order receipt location. The control system will again communicate with the remote communications unit at the order receipt location when the customer arrives to pick up the order. The control system will identify the order at the receipt location for the particular customer who placed the order at the order entry interface of the fuel dispenser.
Typically, the order receipt location is associated with a quick-serve restaurant wherein the customer may order food or drink at the fuel dispenser and pick up the food order at the order receipt location. The order receipt location is further associated with an order preparation location having an order preparation output. The control system is also associated with the order preparation output and adapted to control the order preparation output to indicate the customer associated with the order is at the intermediate location wherein processing the order for the customer is effected when the customer is determined to be at the intermediate location.
The present invention solves the unique problems associated with keeping track of orders from a QSR in a fueling environment. In such an environment, orders for pick up at the drive-thru window, or within the store for that matter, may be placed in a different sequence than that in which they are actually picked up. The reason for the possible discrepancy in order placement and order pick-up arises because the orders can be placed at several locations, including the many fuel dispensers and the traditional order entry interface of QSR. In particular, those customer placing orders at the dispenser will most likely intermingle in the drive-thru line with those placing orders at the order entry interface. The present invention uses transponders to appropriately associate orders placed at different locations with the appropriate customer at a common pick-up location.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following description of the preferred embodiments when considered with the drawings.